Miscreants attack Olusola Oke in Ondo, damage seven vehicles in his convoy; AD accuses Mimiko of sponsoring thuggery

The governorship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke, was on Wednesday attacked in Ondo town by hoodlums believed to be supporters of the Olusegun Mimiko faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Oke, whose convoy was sacked by the hoodlums numbering about 70, was ambushed at the Ademulegun/Ife Road Roundabout in the ancient town while returning from Oke-Igbo community where he had gone on his campaign rally about 3pm.
He, however, escaped unhurt in the melee.
The miscreants who were armed with dangerous weapons such as cudgels, bottles and machetes damaged seven vehicles in his convoy while it took the swift intervention of the policemen in his convoy to repel the attackers.
They were chanting solidarity songs for Eyitayo Jegede, the PDP candidate of the Mimiko faction of the PDP in the state while carrying out the attacks.
Oke had immediately called on his supporters not to be intimidated by the spate of attacks but to remain calm even in the face of persecution, saying that with God on their side, victory awaits AD on Saturday.
In his reaction, the Chairman, Media and Publicity of the Olusola Oke Campaign Organisation, Mr Bisi Kolawole, described the incident as not only unfortunate but an invitation to disaster.
“We have in the last three weeks been strident in our cries of being under attacks by both the PDP and the APC who are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the rising popularity of Chief Olusola Oke.
“Isn’t it sad that a sitting governor, the chief security officer of the state, could be after an innocent man for daring to exercise his fundamental human rights of contesting as governor of his state when he (Mimiko) isn’t running again? From the action of the boys who carried out this dastardly act, they were mobilised to that area immediately after our convoy passed the place on its way to Oke-Igbo to attack us on our way back. This is even more so when Mimiko hails from Ondo where the attack occurred and we had just had a rally in the town only on Monday which recorded an unprecedented crowd of supporters of AD in the ancient town.
“While we shall continue to toe the path of peace and not join issues with them by retaliating because their plan is to provoke us into retaliating so that the election could be postponed to offer them the latitude to perpetrate electoral manipulations which their court cases had prevented them from perfecting to their usual satisfaction, we want to call on security agents, the entire people of Ondo State and the world at large that the Ondo State Government under Dr Olusegun Mimiko is the author of sponsored mayhem, chaos and breach of security in Ondo State in order to fulfil its aim of getting undue advantage in the election,” Kolawole said.